A Twisted Nightmare
by Maria Tabb
Summary: Steve has a terrible nightmare in which he foresees Jesse’s death, Mark believes the nightmare is nothing to worry about and brushes it off as a result of working too hard… but is it? Soon the nightmare haunts Steve to breaking point and his nightmare
1. Default Chapter

Author: Maria Tabb  
  
Age: 16  
  
E-mail: MariaTabb@aol.com  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
A Twisted Nightmare  
  
Steve has a terrible nightmare in which he foresees Jesse's death, Mark believes the nightmare is nothing to worry about and brushes it off as a result of working too hard… but is it? Soon the nightmare haunts Steve to breaking point and his nightmare starts becoming reality… can Steve stop the chain of events before it's too late?  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"Argh let go of me!!!"  
  
Piercing screams continued to get louder and louder  
  
"Why are you doing this?!"  
  
The screams continued and the horror increased, each of their faces where stricken with terror no-one could make sense of the situation before them, what could they do, there was nowhere to go if they screamed they risked their lives, the man before them was calm knew what he was doing he was the one in control it was up to him whether they live or die, one wrong move and he could turn.  
  
Their faces watched in horror as she fell to the ground all she'd done was let out a small whimper and he'd turned on her…  
  
Suddenly a cry shattered the long silence, their faces turned with haste to the new drama that was unfolding before them, the man was holding a knife to another person yet something was oddly familiar about this person, the persons face was pale, sweat dripped off his forehead and his heart was pounding so hard you could see it actually moving from within his chest, the man pressed the knife harder to the persons throat, with this the person closed his eyes, he was too scared to cry, too terrified to scream all he could do was stay still and pray…  
  
They couldn't watch, their faces turned away, one swift move and it was all over and a haunting scream that would never be forgotten rang loudly in their ears an even more distressing sound was the silence that followed afterwards…  
  
Their faces turned back…  
  
The faces came into focus, Steve could see Amanda collapse in a heap of sobs, and Mark stared shocked into space… "There's one face missing where's Jess?"… Steve stared into space for a minute and then felt his heart pound furiously and sweat form on his forehead as realisation slapped him in the face… he knew what had happened but still did he want to look at what he knew he was going to see lying on the floor, did he want to face the reality of what had happened, slowly Steve cautiously turned his head and looked with shock at the floor, it was what he knew he would see… Jesse lay motionless surrounded by blood on the floor, a knife penetrating from his chest, his eyes open fixed with terror, Steve stared at the face with disbelief … "Steve" a voice called "Steve!" the voice called again "STEVE!!!"  
  
Steve shot bolt upright his heart pounding fast and hard, his eyes stared at the wall in front of him, his hands grasped hold tightly of the mattress in under him…  
  
"Steve, are you alright? You look awful?" Mark exclaimed as he walked into his son's bedroom  
  
Steve jumped as his father placed his hand on his sons cold clammy shoulder and looked at him with concern, Steve's breathing was fast and shallow and all Steve could do was stare at his father, any words he tried to say just wouldn't come out… Mark looked at his son with worry realising that his son was certainly far from being ok…  
  
"Steve you're not alright are you? What's happened?" Mark said with speed looking extremely worried, all Steve could do was struggle to speak but because he was breathing so fast anything he was saying just didn't make sense  
  
"Calm down… take deep breaths… ok Steve… are you listening to me?" Mark said slowly, Steve nodded at his father and drew in a couple of deep breaths "ok now, do you feel you can talk about it?" Mark asked looking deep into his son's eyes, Steve took in another deep breath and paused for a moment to compose himself before he began to explain what had caused him to become so distressed.  
  
"and there he was lying there dead on the floor… his face … it was… it was…" Steve began to breathe faster again, Mark placed his hands around his sons shoulders "Steve, it's all over… you don't have to explain anymore… it was just a nightmare, nothing more. Everybody gets them from time to time, they don't mean anything except that it could suggest that maybe you've been investigating too many murder cases recently" Mark said in a soothing tone  
  
Steve looked at his father he knew his father was right as he had been working extremely hard recently maybe he should take a break, he certainly didn't want a repeat of the dream he'd had, he'd hadn't taken any leave in ages it'd be nice to just laze around the house or relax on the golden sand in the warm sunshine on the beach.  
  
Suddenly Mark interrupted Steve's thoughts "you ok now son? Do you want me to call work for you, tell them you won't be in for a few days?" Steve smiled as he listened to his father he loved the fact that he and his father were so close that he knew just what Steve was thinking sometimes "Dad, you read my mind" Steve said contentedly. 


	2. Dr Taylor Hughes

1 Chapter 2  
  
Mark walked through the doors of the ER at Community General and gazed the hustle and bustle before him "Never a dull moment here!" he chuckled to himself… Mark placed his notes on the reception desk, positioned his glasses comfortably upon his nose and glanced at the notes while ticking off the various boxes and writing in the necessary information… "Morning Dr Sloan!" a couple of nurses cheerfully called as they wondered past, Mark glanced up from his notes and gave a smile and a wave to the nurses before continuing with his paperwork "Good day Dr Sloan!" a student doctor greeted Mark and patted him on the shoulder, Mark glanced up from his notes again and greeted the young doctor with a smile and a hello but then continued with his paperwork "Hi Dr Sloan!" another nurse called… Mark looked up a little annoyed this time but still waved and smiled at the nurse all the same, again he then continued with his paperwork "you certainly are very popular around here!" a voice called from behind him, Mark turned around and saw a young man in a doctors uniform stood before him, he didn't recognise him.  
  
"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met!" Mark said cheerfully and gestured to shake hands, the young man laughed and took Marks hand and shook it gently "Sorry, I'm Taylor a new intern here, I've joined a little late I'm afraid, I had a few problems back at home that I had to sort out before I could join" Taylor explained, Mark smiled "I look forward to teaching you then… actually you should be in class right now!" Mark said in an authoritative tone Taylor looked sheepishly at Mark "Trust me to get in trouble with my teacher within the first few seconds of me being here!" Taylor announced sounding quite embarrassed but then paused for a second in thought and declared "hang on if you're the teacher shouldn't you already be in class as well!" Mark recoiled in surprise, as Taylor looked at him with a smug grin "You got me I'll let you off this one… you're lucky you're a quick thinker!" Mark said in a slightly defeated tone.  
  
* * *  
  
Steve settled down onto the brown leather couch and switched on the TV… "Ah this is nice!" he sighed as he lay his head on the armrest of his couch and rested there just listening to the silence around him, soon enough Steve was dozing and his mind drifted off …  
  
* * *  
  
"Now class if a patient has palpitations, chest tightness or pain, dizziness, shortness of breath and is passing large volumes of urine what could the diagnosis be?" Mark asked his class of interns, the class looked blankly at each other and then at Mark, Mark slipped out a long sigh and was about to begin to explain when a voice interrupted "um… I think I might know a condition that could cause those symptoms" Mark glanced around the class and saw Taylor with his hand up in the air "Taylor tell us what you think it might be then" Mark motioned to the young student, Taylor hesitantly made his way up to the front of the class and shyly began to answer the question "I believe the symptoms could mean the patient is suffering from tachycardia, it can be either physiological, a normal response or pathological. Some examples of physiological tachycardia are during exercise, in pregnancy or in situations of anxiety or excitement" Mark looked at Taylor impressed and then continued to ask the young student "ok then, how would you treat the patient?" Taylor halted briefly and thought for a moment he then began to answer, "Treatment is mostly by medication for example beta-blockers but in some cases may require radio- frequency ablation or implantation of pacemakers or defibrillators. You also must address other factors that may contribute to heart disease" Taylor finished his explanation looking proud of himself, Mark looked surprised "Well done!" he exclaimed and gave Taylor a round of applause, Taylor went and settled back down in his seat.  
  
* * *  
  
… images flashed through Steve's mind, the knife… the blood… the terror stricken faces… the noises rang through his ears… the blood curdling screams… the sound of the knife and the eerie silence.  
  
The dream was more graphic this time, each moment was replayed but a 1000 times worse, faces were clearer, sounds a lot louder, Steve could see the crazed mans face this time, he didn't recognize it, the face was of a young man he was grinning but his smile was a twisted evil one, one that sent shivers down Steve's spine. 


	3. Breaking Point

Chapter 3  
  
"I'm telling you he was definitely wearing a wig!" Jesse sniggered "Jesse stop that it's not funny… that poor man… having to wear a hairpiece that looks like a dead rat on his head!" Amanda said sympathetically, Jesse turned to look at Amanda and Amanda turned to look at Jesse they couldn't hold it in anymore and both doubled up laughing.  
  
"Whatever are you two laughing so hard about?" Mark asked as he came out of his teaching room, Amanda and Jesse jumped "oh nothing!" they both said putting on innocent faces "How are the new class of interns shaping up then Mark?" Jesse asked quickly changing the subject, Mark thought for a moment and then said trying to not to sound too harsh "I've seen better classes…but there is this one boy Taylor Hughes he's only just joined the class yet he knows more than the whole class put together, he's a very bright young boy and I can see big things happening for him"  
  
* * *  
  
Steve shot bolt upright his heart pounding vigorously and the images from his dream still replaying in his mind but the images wouldn't go away this time they replayed over and over again becoming more horrendous and horrific by the second, Steve stared at the TV "oh my god!!!" he yelled in horror, he couldn't believe what he was seeing… his nightmare was replaying on the television screen "what the hell is happening to me?" he screamed, he ran to the phone and punched in the numbers as fast as could…  
  
* * *  
  
"Was it really a wig?" Mark asked looking surprised, Jesse and Amanda looked at Mark and burst into laughter "Of course it was, come on Mark it looked like the guy was wearing a dead rat on his head!" Jesse said while trying unsuccessfully to stop laughing "Ok the wig did look a little and only a little bit out of place" Mark agreed while biting his bottom lip to try and contain himself… suddenly a nurse approached the three doctors "um Dr Sloan there's someone on the phone for you at reception, I believe its your son… he sounds a little distressed" the nurse informed, Marks face dropped "Do you know why?" Mark asked sounding apprehensive "I'm sorry I don't know why" the nurse replied and walked away, Mark hurried down the corridor while Jesse and Amanda followed.  
  
* * *  
  
"Steve… Steve are you alright?" his father asked worriedly down the phone "Dad I can't make the images go… they won't leave… I don't know why!" Steve cried frantically "Steve what images?" Mark continued trying to remain calm "From the dream… they won't go… they're everywhere! On the TV… in my head… everywhere! They're just everywhere!" Steve shouted hysterically "Ok Steve you sit tight, I'll be straight home ok?" Mark said hastily  
  
* * *  
  
Mark dropped the phone his face tense with worry, Jesse could see the worried look on his good friends face "Mark what's happened?" he asked nervously "It's Steve I have to get home" Mark said shocked "I'll come with you" Jesse suggested "no don't Jess I think we'll need you here I've got a feeling I'm going to have to bring Steve in" Mark sighed, Jesse and Amanda stared at each other in shock they were both thinking the same thing, things have to be extremely serious for Mark to react like this. 


	4. Fearing the truth

1 Chapter 4  
  
Mark knocked on the door of his beach home "Steve are you in there?" he called, he knocked again but there was no answer, Mark rummaged through his doctors bag and pulled out his door keys and speedily unlocked the door.  
  
Mark raced in, he surveyed the living room but there was no sign of his son "Steve!" he yelled again but there was still no response, Mark quickly checked each room of his house and continued to do the same in Steve's downstairs apartment but again there was no sign of his son, Mark walked over to his couch and slowly sat down "where is he?" he asked in an exasperated tone "Dad" a faint voice called "Steve where are you?" Mark called loudly, CLICK, Mark turned and saw his son step out of his closet, Steve's face was pale with fear, Mark ran over and hugged his son, "Steve what ever is happening to you we are going to get sorted out ok, if you'll just come to the hospital and we can get a psychiatrist to check you over" Mark said in a comforting tone, Steve recoiled in horror "A psychiatrist! I'm not going nuts, what I'm experiencing is very real… this dream is warning me!" Steve yelled, Mark stared at Steve he didn't want to argue with him "Ok but I think it'd still be better if you came back to the hospital with me anyway" Mark finished, Steve resentfully followed his father into his car. 


	5. Knifepoint

1 Chapter 5  
  
Mark paced up and down the corridors of Community General his mind filled with questions… Why did this happen? What caused it? Could I've done anything to prevent it? When will he snap out of it? and the most important question Will he snap out of it?… "Hey Dr Sloan! How's it going?" Taylor called, Mark jumped "um yeah things are ok" Mark answered "Hey Doc what's up?" Taylor asked sensing his teacher wasn't his usual self "Nothing Taylor" Mark replied sternly "Come on Doc you can tell me" Taylor continued "Dr Hughes there is nothing wrong and I would appreciate it if you didn't call me 'Doc'" Mark said trying hard not to get angry, Taylor face suddenly twisted to an evil stare "You doctors are all the same, you don't care about anyone except yourselves… I thought things were going to be different here but I guess I was just fooling myself believing things would actually change!" Taylor hissed and stormed off, Mark stared in disbelief as he watched Dr Hughes walk angrily down the corridor.  
  
"What's up with him?" Jesse asked as he approached Mark "I have no idea Jess he just stormed off… how's Steve?" Mark asked hesitantly, Jesse sighed "No change I'm afraid, he's really hung up about this dream I really think you need to get him to see a psychiatrist" Jesse suggested "I know Jesse but even mentioning a psychiatrist to Steve makes him even more agitated" Mark replied and rubbed his head with his hands "I know… well lets leave it for a couple of hours and see if he calms down then we can reassess everything" Jesse finished and placed a reassuring hand on Marks shoulder "He'll be ok Mark" Jesse added, Mark turned and looked at Jesse with tearful eyes "I hope that you're right Jess… God I hope you're right!" Mark said as he walked back into the examining room.  
  
* * *  
  
Taylor hung his doctors uniform in his locker and put on his black sweater, he slammed the locker door shut and took in a deep breath, "nothing ever changes" he muttered angrily, he walked over to his bag and pulled out a medium size bottle of whisky, unscrewed the cap and downed the contents, the whisky burned his throat but it was worth it, the sensation pleased him made him feel better… "Dr Hughes what are you doing?" Amanda exclaimed as she walked into the doctors lounge, Taylor looked up shocked "um… err… I… was… um" he struggled to come up with an excuse "Don't bother with an excuse, you know I'll have to report this to Dr Sloan" Amanda informed the troubled student "Please don't… I need this… I can't cope with…" but before Taylor could finish Amanda was making her way down to Mark in the examining room, Taylor raced after her "Don't do this to me!!!" he cried but Amanda continued down the corridor.  
  
"AMANDA!!!" Taylor yelled, this time Amanda turned around "Taylor you know you can't…" Amanda started to speak but her voice trailed off when she saw Taylor was now standing in front of her holding a large carving knife "uh… ok Taylor put the knife down… you don't need to resort to this!" Amanda said trying to remain calm "no-one ever listens to me!!! You don't, my friends don't, and even my own father didn't!!!" Taylor babbled "Taylor I'm listening to you… you tell me what you want and I'll give it to you" Amanda said nervously "Get in there!" Taylor shouted and pointed to the examining room, Amanda cautiously made her way into the room where Mark, Jesse and a young nurse were stood  
  
"There you are Amanda! We've been looking…" Mark started but then caught sight of Taylor holding the knife to Amanda's back "Stand over there!" Taylor commanded and pushed Amanda into a medicine cabinet, Mark rushed over to help her up "Stay where you are Doc! One small move and things will get nasty" Taylor instructed, Taylor went and peered through the window Amanda stared at Mark terrified "Mark where's Steve?" she whispered anxiously "he's in another room with a psychiatrist…" Mark started to reply but Taylor caught sight of them whispering "Shut up! Shut up! This isn't a game Doc, I mean what I say, for once people will listen to me!" Taylor shouted angrily and shut the windows blinds.  
  
"Taylor what do you mean about people will listen to you for once?" Mark asked in a calm manner, Taylor shot Mark an angry look "No-one listens to me and you obviously weren't listening to me earlier, I told you to shut up… or do you think I don't have what it takes to hurt someone or even kill someone? I can do it you know… I can kill… I've done it before and I can do it again… My father didn't listen… didn't care all I wanted was some respect someone to care someone to love me! He didn't though… he was a doctor… well respected… appreciated in his work people cared for him… I actually looked up to him! Made another stupid mistake there didn't I? I actually thought that becoming a doctor myself would please him that he would actually take some notice of me… maybe even be proud of his son instead of putting me down and saying I'll amount to nothing! He wasn't proud… I tried so hard studied every night was top of my class back home but still it didn't do a thing… I was nobody to him… I had to fix it… had to make him realise I existed, repay him for all the put downs he subjected me to ever since I was born… so I did… he came home from work one evening a few weeks ago, I made him his dinner… he even criticised that saying there was too much salt in it! I took out the knife… it felt so good in my hands, for once I was in control… I walked over to him… I remember the look in his eyes… the terror… it felt so good… he pleaded, I laughed then I stabbed him and then I stabbed him again and then again and again and again until he was dead… I left him there, came to LA, made up lies to cover my path… I didn't think it was going to work and to be honest I didn't care but here I am now… still a nobody!" Taylor cried hysterically.  
  
"Taylor you're not a nobody!" Mark pleaded, "Be quiet Doc! Be quiet! I need silence, need to sort things in my head!" Taylor babbled loudly, Taylor paced the up and down the room muttering nonsense to himself, Jesse and Amanda stood frozen to the spot terrified of what Taylor could do they looked at Mark hoping that he would know what to do like always but this time even Mark was struggling to come up with something, suddenly the nurse let out a cry, Taylor snapped and grabbed the nurse round the neck, Jesse and Amanda covered their faces they knew what Taylor was going to do yet they could do nothing to stop it, Mark was about to say something when Taylor gave Mark an evil look, Mark turned his head and felt himself tear apart when he heard the scream, the nurse slumped to the ground.  
  
* * *  
  
"Steve what do you believe could've caused these nightmares?" the psychiatrist asked in a soothing tone, Steve was about to answer when an image flashed through his mind "Oh my god! I have to go!" he yelled and ran out of the room, "I've got to get there in time!" he cried and raced down the corridor…  
  
* * *  
  
"Argh!" a scream rang through the examining room, Mark and Amanda turned their heads back, Taylor was holding a knife to Jesse's neck…  
  
* * *  
  
Steve continued to race down the corridors knocking many people out of his way, the examining room was insight… more images flashed through his mind, the killer had Jesse… the killer was holding a knife to Jesses neck… Steve carefully pulled out his gun and kicked open the door…  
  
* * *  
  
Jesses face was pale with fear he closed his eyes to pray… Suddenly the examining door burst open Taylor turned and Jesse fell to the floor, Taylor ran towards Steve with the knife but before Taylor had a chance Steve had pulled the trigger of the gun, the bullet hit Taylor in the chest and Taylor fell unconscious to the ground.  
  
Amanda collapsed to her knees sobbing, Mark stared shocked into space and… "Where's Jess?" Steve thought… suddenly there were two arms around Steve's waist, Steve looked down and saw a familiar face "Thank god you're alright Jess!" Steve sighed with relief "Thank you, thank you thank you!" Jesse repeated over and over again. 


	6. Strange happenings

1 Chapter 6  
  
"Who knows what would've happened if you had not had that dream!" Amanda said still trying to get over the shock of what had happened "That Taylor was a real messed up guy! That poor nurse… I wish we could've saved her," Jesse added resuming a bit of colour in his face "I'm sorry I doubted you son! If it weren't for you today we could've lost a good friend" Mark said giving his son a huge hug "Hey it's ok Dad, someone was trying to tell me something, I had that dream for a reason and I don't think anything could've stopped what the outcome was going to be I was meant to come in at that point, it was fate… everything happens for a reason although it doesn't always make a lot of sense at the time… I think someone was looking out for us today" Steve said thoughtfully "I couldn't have put that better myself son," Mark said smiling and put his arm around his sons' shoulders. With that the group headed back home each one of them not able to explain the extraordinary events that they had witnessed today, one thing they were all certain about was they certainly wouldn't be able to ever forget this day.  
  
  
  
The End. 


End file.
